Tree on beach spreads Christmas cheer

People walking San Clemente’s shoreline are finding a little unexpected Christmas cheer at Calafia Beach – a decorated tree, set up on the sand.

Although you wouldn’t know it from looking at the tree, someone stole its solar-powered lights, said Debbie Stetson, who put up the tree and the lights last week.

The tree is lavishly decorated, Stetson said, as people have been leaving ornaments. “It has exploded with ornaments,” she said. Someone left stockings. A toy monkey. Stetson said she has seen people posing for pictures beside the tree on the beach.

This is the second year that Stetson put a tree on the beach. Last year, five days after Christmas, someone walked away with the ornaments, she said. In that case, the takers may have figured the tree was abandoned. Not this year, with Christmas still to come. Stetson said she was saddened by the theft, but the response from passersby has been rewarding.